Androgen regulation of intestinal lipid metabolism, and the impact of dietary lipids

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The intestine is an important organ in absorption, secretion and metabolism of nutrients, in particular dietary fats. How the body regulates intestinal lipid absorption-secretion and metabolism throughout the lifecycle is largely unknown. Emerging evidence suggests hormones, such as testosterone, may have a direct effect on regulating lipid synthesis in tissues in the body which can change blood lipids and impact health status. The aim of this research program is to determine the role of testosterone in regulating intestinal lipid metabolism by examining lipid absorption and transport processes using animal models. The findings of this work will provide new data in this area to help us understand the higher regulation of the intestine by hormones, such as testosterone, and can be further translated to human health in different stages of the lifecycle in which testosterone levels change and to conditions where testosterone levels in the body are too high or too low. In addition this research will investigate how dietary fats, in particular different polyunsaturated fatty acids including trans fats and n-3 fats, modulate testosterone metabolism in the body and how this impacts intestinal lipid metabolism. The outcomes of this research will help us to understand how different dietary fats can be used to modulate intestinal and testosterone metabolism in conditions where these processes are aberrant and in normal physiological stages of life.